5G+ blockchain, is it a gimmick, or is it possible in the future?

Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued 5G commercial licenses to the three major operators and China Radio and Television. The 5G era has arrived.

The industry believes that 5G technology will bring a new market of 100 billion US dollars. At the same time, the chain circle also ushered in a cheer, the concept of "blockchain +5G" was once again hot.

Improve TPS performance, drive more data on the chain, reduce the risk of data tampering… In the view of some blockchain practitioners, the emergence of 5G is expected to solve a series of problems in the blockchain industry.

However, some people believe that there is no obvious cross-cutting relationship between blockchain and 5G at the technical level, and there is a suspicion of forcible hype.

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How should 5G be combined with blockchain? Is the combination of the two a concept of speculation, or is it really feasible?

01 5G era

On June 6, 2019, the highly anticipated 5G floor ushered in new developments – China Telecom, China Mobile, China Unicom and China Radio and Television, and received the first batch of 5G commercial licenses issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. China has officially entered the 5G era since then.

In 2019, it was recognized by practitioners as the "commercial first year" of 5G. In December 2018, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued a 5G system experimental frequency license to the three major operators. The heat of 5G continues to heat up, and it is not acceptable.

What is 5G?

5G, the fifth generation mobile communication system. As a new generation of mobile communication technology, 5G is an extension of 4G – higher transmission rate, less communication delay and wider network coverage. According to public information, the theoretical network speed of 5G can reach more than 100 times that of 4G.

However, as an underlying communication technology, 5G is not a panacea. In the areas of user privacy information security and online transaction trust establishment, 5G is still powerless.

Faced with these problems, telecom operators in some countries have begun to try to complement the shortcomings of the underlying communication technologies such as 5G with blockchain technology.

At the beginning of this year, Telefonica of Spain Telecom Group and blockchain enterprise network recording technology cooperated in the blockchain and mobile security field, and launched a blockchain-based cross-chain mobile wallet Demo.

This wallet combines the cross-chain and privacy protection technologies of the Netcom technology incubator project Wanwei Chain, as well as the identity authentication technology and private key management technology of third-party companies, and has the opportunity to provide carriers for Tencent’s mobile phone devices. Level of identity authentication and e-commerce protection.

"The telecom group Telefonica is optimistic about the layout and blockchain technology in order to seize the opportunity in the technology convergence era of '5G+ blockchain'." Bryan Asia Pacific market leader Bryan said to a blockchain.

In his view, “blockchain+5G” should first land in areas where “blockchain+4G” technology has matured, such as digital wallets, mobile finance, and mobile traceability.

As early as July 2017, Telefonica began to deploy in 4G networks and evolved 5G technology. In fact, most of the terminals that can use the wallet product are still running under the 4G network. In the future, these terminals will gradually access 5G.

Bryan believes that compared to 4G, 5G's business logic in a specific scenario will not change much. "If there is a strong demand for blockchain technology in a certain era in the 4G era, then in the 5G era, this area is still inseparable from the blockchain." He explained, "The biggest difference is the blockchain. The operating efficiency can be increased tenfold and hundred times."

“Efficient, safe and trustworthy is the entry point for the combination of 'blockchain + 5G' and various industries,” said Lu Xujun, chairman and CEO of Net Record Technology.

02 Difficulties

In the eyes of some telecom operators, the blockchain assists 5G in solving some shortcomings of the underlying communication protocol, such as privacy, security, and trust. In the 5G era, what changes will this technology bring to the blockchain industry?

The answer to this question is not entirely clear.

"There are many problems in the field of blockchain that cannot be solved by relying on 5G technology." Bryan told a blockchain.

In his view, there is no obvious cross-link between the blockchain and 5G. In the short term, the dependence between the two is not strong. For example, the most common TPS performance limitation problem in the blockchain industry may still be difficult to solve through 5G.

"In fact, TPS performance is mostly determined by the underlying algorithm of the public chain and the hardware level of the node." Blockchain practitioner Zhang Jiming pointed out that "5G technology can enhance the entire blockchain network only when nodes use a large number of wireless transmission methods for information broadcasting. TPS performance."

"But at this stage, the data transmission medium of most blockchain networks is still traditional fiber," Bryan said.

Zhang Jiming pointed out that even if wireless communication technology enters the 5G era, it still has a certain gap in terms of bandwidth and delay compared with commercial fiber-optic lines: "After all, 5G base stations also need to transmit data through optical fibers."

Of course, "blockchain +5G" is not nothing.

“5G provides excellent infrastructure services in point-to-point information transmission and value exchange in blockchain networks,” said Zhang Jiming.

In this regard, Bryan also agreed. In his view, the biggest promotion of 5G technology to the blockchain is to make the data in the chain transmit faster in the wireless environment, that is, to promote the data chain under the chain.

However, if we want to accelerate the landing of 5G in the blockchain field, we still need the auxiliary support of third-party technology, such as Internet of Things technology.

With the characteristics of openness, transparency, traceability, and non-tamperability, the blockchain has attracted much attention in the fields of food and medicine traceability. However, many practitioners believe that blockchain can only achieve the immutability of data on the chain, but it is difficult to ensure the authenticity of the data on the chain. In the process of information, there is still the possibility of human tampering.

"Internet of Things technology is one of the ways to solve this problem." Zhang Jiming said, "In the process of winding up, using IoT sensors instead of manual operations can increase the cost of data tampering and reduce the chance of false information being chained."

However, the network environment has insufficient carrying capacity and low security, which is the two major reasons that restrict the development of Internet of Things technology. 5G technology is expected to solve these two major problems.

"With the advantages of high speed, low latency and high load capacity, 5G can promote the promotion and application of the Internet of Things." Zhang Jiming said, "The blockchain technology can also be used as the basis for the operation of IoT devices, allowing devices and devices. Communicate with each other so you don't have to rely on a centralized server."

“5G promotes the development of the Internet of Things, and the Internet of Things will push the blockchain to the traceability field. At the same time, the blockchain can provide information security for 5G and the Internet of Things.” Bryan said, “The three After the combination of Internet technologies, it may be able to solve some difficulties."

03 Future

The fiery concept of “blockchain+5G” has promoted the emergence of a series of related applications.

In April 2019, a number of “blockchain+5G” smart parking lots located in Huangpu District of Guangzhou City were officially put into use. According to official sources, these parking lots can alleviate problems such as parking queues and parking difficulties.

Specifically, these smart parking lots have established a complete corporate and personal credit service system through 5G+ blockchain technology – parking lots can use blockchain technology to achieve identity and credit management for car owners and approach vehicles. .

At the user level, the owner can check the parking space and queue status of the parking lot through the APP and make an appointment in advance. The parking lot itself can also establish a credit system based on vehicles and owners through blockchain technology. Once the violations such as overtime parking are monitored, the owner will be deducted credits.

Following the popularization of blockchain electronic invoices, the emergence of “blockchain+5G” smart parking lots will help people build a credible smart parking ecosystem.

In the entertainment industry, “blockchain+5G” also blew a hot air.

In January 2019, cultural celebrity Gao Xiaosong gave a keynote speech at Tsinghua University entitled "5G and Blockchain: An Important Track for the Creative Industry."

In the speech, he believes that the arrival of 5G will promote the unprecedented expansion of music intelligent hardware, and trigger the infinite subdivision of copyright – such as copyright will be subdivided into smart kitchen music playback rights, smart car music playback rights.

“5G has dispersed the scenes or channels of the music industry.” Gao Xiaosong said in his speech, “Blockchain technology can realize the automatic distribution of distributed copyrights, allowing distributed nodes to confirm the rights on the chain.”

In recognition of the "blockchain + 5G" technology, he even believes that the big record companies are likely to disappear in the future, and music can be directly presented in the blockchain.

“In the future, 5G is bound to push the commercialization of blockchain technology.” Weiyuan, a blockchain practitioner, said to a blockchain, “But outside the blockchain, 5G will bring many benefits to all walks of life. Changes, practitioners do not need to over-interpret 'blockchain +5G'."

In his view, the birth of any excellent product is the common crystallization of various technologies at the application level.

At present, blockchain technology has emerged in the supply chain, medical and other industries, and has undergone a series of technological integrations, and has caused some changes.

In addition to the Internet of Things mentioned above, "blockchain + 5G" can also be used in the fields of car networking, driverless, artificial intelligence, mobile payment and so on.

In the field of car networking, US mobile operator Sprint and blockchain enterprise NXM Labs have jointly launched a "blockchain + 5G" car networking platform. In addition to conventional smart car networking services such as collision detection and roadside rescue, the platform can also use blockchain technology to prevent hacker's long-range attacks.

"'Blockchain+5G' technology can ensure the authenticity of data while realizing data real-time uplink." Wei Yuan said, "This has, to a certain extent, shaped the prototype of a new business model."

Lu Xujun believes that in the field of car networking, 5G can greatly reduce the delay of the car network, and the blockchain can ensure the authenticity of the vehicle transmission information. Once an accident occurs in the vehicle, the parties can determine the location of the accident at the first time, and complete the identification and payment of the accident.

In the same way, “blockchain+5G” can also help to delay insurance. Once the flight is delayed, the Internet of Things technology can realize the timely collection of information, 5G technology can realize the real-time transmission of information, and the blockchain technology can realize the final confirmation of flight delay and complete the subsequent claims.

“Blockchain technology and 5G, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and other technologies have jointly promoted the development of the digital economy. At the same time, the development of blockchain technology itself cannot be ignored.” Lu Xujun said, “If you want to promote new The emergence of a business model also requires a killer-level new blockchain application."

In the eyes of some practitioners, the development model of “blockchain+5G” is still in the stage of paper talk.

But the prototype of some new products has begun to appear faintly.

5G technology may be difficult to directly promote the blockchain. However, driven by third-party technology, 5G is still promising in the blockchain world.

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